Well this is getting complicated, isn't it. Let me see if I can simplify all of the recent developments in a single opening paragraph. <clears throat> Well you see, the Romulans that live with Picard and are part of a secret police society inform him that there's an even secret-er, almost mythical Romulan secret society, called the Zhat Vash (no relation to Picard's old girlfriend) that just have always hated androids, and AI in general. They operate everywhere, silently undermining any kind of android happenings. Clearly, they are responsible for the death of Data's daughter, and the subsequent scrubbing of the crime. They also are likely after Data's daughter's twin as well. So Picard must get moving!But when he explains this to a higher up at Star Fleet, and demands a re-commissioning, a crew, and a ship to go out and... I don't know...do something about it, he gets shut down because it all sounds so crazy. Furthermore, he gets a pretty good dressing down for even asking after the whole "Star Fleet isn't Star Fleet anymore" comment on a TV interview. But it turns out that he's exactly right, the double secret Romulans are infiltrating everything and watching Soji for clues about other possible synthetics. In fact, one of them is shagging her. You know, for intel.
Picard then is forced to go rogue, and gather his own crew and ship. He knows that he could get the old band back together (Riker, Worf, LaForge), but doesn't want to impose this on them. So he begins to assemble his own crew, all of whom respond with "You son of bitch. I'm in!" We have the Romulan roomie Zhaban, Dr. Jurati from the Daystrom Institute, and the mysterious Raffi, who takes a bit more coaxing than the others.We also get to see a bit of what Soji is doing on that Borg cube. She seems to be removing cybernetic implants from the Borg casualties, but we don't know why. We do know that she seems to find the work more than fulfilling, as she whispers "You're free now" to the dead Borg that she has just relieved of its armaments.
Also revealed is a bit of the backstory of how the synthetics destroyed Mars. It seems that there were a ton of androids there as workers. They are not as advanced socially as Data was, and the other workers are kind of creeped out by them. Really, they seem more like slaves. They don't have their own quarters like Data did, instead they spend their off shift packed in a bare room with others. It reminded me of "Measure of a Man," and how Maddox thought that Data should be deemed property so that he could be replicated and used as a work force and HOLY SHIT THAT'S THE SAME MADDOX they're talking about now! I actually didn't put that together until I looked up that old episode. That's why all these themes seem so familiar.Oh and, Picard is dying of a brain thing.
It's hard to rate a show like "Maps and Legends," because it's really just a stepping stone to getting the series started. I did enjoy it though. I thought the scene where Picard is denied his request was particularly strong, and watching him storm out with that pissed-off yet determined look on his face was a high point. I also love the Earth stuff, particularly in this episode the row of transporters that people are popping in and out of. This is definitely Good Trek, hopefully on its way to even better episodes in the future.
Published February 2, 2020
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